Special compounds in green tea hold promise for inhibiting the onset of life‑threatening human diseases.
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Release time：2023-05-20
Summary： In a research report published in the international journal Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers from the University of Washington found that a compound in green tea may hold potential to save the lives of patients with multiple myeloma and amyloidosis, who often face life‑threatening complications associated with bone marrow transplantation.
In a research report published in the international journal Journal of Biological Chemistry, researchers from the University of Washington found that a compound in green tea may hold potential to save the lives of patients with multiple myeloma and amyloidosis, who are at risk of fatal complications associated with bone marrow transplantation.
In the article, the researchers investigated the mechanisms underlying conformational changes in protein folding and also elucidated how these processes can trigger a variety of diseases. Professor Jan Bieschke stated that a polyphenolic compound called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which we have identified in green tea, may offer potential benefits to patients with multiple myeloma and amyloidosis—conditions that render individuals highly susceptible to a fatal disease known as light-chain–related amyloidosis. In such patients, antibodies become misfolded and accumulate in multiple organs, including the heart and kidneys.
Researchers aim to elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms of light-chain–related amyloidosis and to determine how specific compounds in green tea modulate the expression of particular proteins. To begin, they isolated a single light-chain protein from nine patients with bone marrow disorders and then conducted experiments to assess how green-tea compounds influence this protein. Previous studies had examined the effects of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) on Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, revealing that EGCG can inhibit the accumulation of pathogenic proteins in these conditions. In the present study, the researchers arrived at a similar conclusion: in patients with bone marrow disorders, EGCG induces conformational changes in light-chain proteins, thereby preventing their misfolding during replication and aggregation.
In the presence of green tea, the light chain adopts a markedly different intrinsic structure, and EGCG can convert the light-chain protein into a non‑toxic aggregate that fails to form fibrillar structures. Finally, the researchers note that they are currently monitoring the conformational changes of the light-chain protein in vitro and are also investigating the underlying mechanisms at the molecular level. Looking ahead, they hope to conduct additional clinical‑translational studies to elucidate the functional effects of specific bioactive compounds in green tea.
Keywords:
Multiple myeloma,Patient
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